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Call for applicants

The start of the call for applications may vary from one year to another. If you wish to receive a notification when a new call for applications opens, you can do so by subscribing to the notification service.

The INPhINIT Incoming frame requires choosing one specific predoctoral position through the predoctoral position search engine. However, it is highly recommended to have alternative possibilities to the first option, in case this one can not be effective or if you would like to change the option if you are awarded the fellowship. You can describe these additional options in the "comments" section of "studies to be pursued“ tab and in the statement of purpose. The position chosen in the application is therefore an expression of interest, and it is not binding: in the event of obtaining the fellowship, you could choose another available position if you wish to.

In the INPhINIT Retaining frame you do not have to choose a predoctoral position, although in the "studies to be pursued" section you must indicate the doctoral programme that you would like to study if you obtained the fellowship. The indicated programme is an expression of interest, and it is not binding: in the event of obtaining the fellowship, you could choose another doctoral programme if you wish to.

No. In any case, the years of research experience will be taken into account. At the closing date for applications, candidates must be in the first four years of their research career and they should not have previously obtained any other doctoral degree.

Candidates who wish to join a Spanish centre or university cannot have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications.

Candidates who wish to join a Portuguese centre or university cannot have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications.

Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

The fulfilment of the geographic mobility requirement will be checked during the eligibility screening phase. It will be checked again and definitively after the publication date of the final list of selected candidates.

Find below two examples:

Example 1:

A Spanish researcher has finished the last year of her bachelor’s degree in a Spanish university. She has taken a master's degree in the Netherlands from 07/02/2017 to 06/09/2019, when she leaves her residence in the Netherlands. Since 07/09/2019 she is on holidays and from 07/10/2019 she joins a Spanish company, where she plans to work for at least one year.

Is the candidate eligible to apply for the INPhINIT Incoming fellowship to pursue doctoral studies in a research centre accredited as a Severo Ochoa research centre?

Start date - End date

Country of residence

Period

Activity

07/02/2017
06/10/2017

Spain

8 months

Studies

07/10/2017
06/09/2019

The Netherlands

23 months

Studies

07/09/2019
06/10/2019

Spain

1 month

Holidays

07/10/2019
06/02/2020

Spain

4 months

Work

As she left her residence in the Netherlands on 06/09/2019, starting from 07/09/2019 her familiar residence is in Spain despite she is in holiday abroad. She is not eligible to apply for the fellowship as she will have spent more than 12 months in Spain in the 3 years immediately prior to the closing date for applications (4th of February 2020).

Example 2:

A French student has completed his master’s degree in France. On 07/10/2018 he starts an internship period in a Portuguese company for 5 months, and after finishing it, he moves to Finland for a research stay of 5 months in a research centre. He returns to Portugal by 07/08/2019 and starts working in the same company where he did his internship.

Is the candidate eligible to apply for an INPhINIT Incoming fellowship in a Portuguese research unit accredited as exceptional by the Fundação per a Ciência e a Tecnologia de Portugal?

Start date - End date

Country of residence

Period

Activity

07/02/2017
06/10/2018

France

20 months

Studies

07/10/2018
06/03/2019

Portugal

5 months

Work

07/03/2019
06/08/2019

Finland

5 months

Work

07/08/2019
06/02/2020

Portugal

6 months

Work

He is eligible to apply for the fellowship, as at the closing date for applications he will have spent 11 months in Portugal in the 3 years immediately prior to the closing date for applications.

To be eligible to apply for an INPhINIT Retaining Fellowship candidates must fulfil two mobility requirements:

Requirement 1

Candidates who wish to join a Spanish centre or university must have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications.

Candidates who wish to join a Portuguese centre or university must have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications.

Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

The fulfilment of the geographic mobility requirement will be checked during the eligibility screening phase. It will be checked again and definitively after the publication date of the final list of selected candidates.

Find below two examples:

Example 1:

A Portuguese researcher has finished the last year of her bachelor’s degree at a university in Denmark. On 26/06/2018 she leaves her residence in Denmark and goes on holiday until 26/08/2018. From 27/08/2018 to 26/07/2019 she takes a master's degree in a Portuguese university. On 28/07/2018 she stays for 7 months in a Spanish company.

Is the candidate eligible to apply for an INPhINIT Retaining fellowship to complete her PhD at a Portuguese research center?

Start date - End date

Country of residence

Period

Activity

27/02/2017
26/06/2018

Denmark

16 months

Studies

27/06/2018
26/08/2018

Portugal

2 months

Holidays

27/08/2018
26/07/2019

Portugal

11 months

Studies

27/07/2019
26/02/2020

Spain

7 months

Studies

As she left her residence in Denmark on 26/06/2019, during the period 27/06/2018 – 26/08/2018 her familiar residence is in Portugal, despite she is on holiday abroad. She is eligible to apply for a fellowship because she will have spent more than 12 months living in Portugal in the 3 years immediately prior to the closing date for applications. (26th of February 2020).

Example 2:

A French student has taken a master's degree at a university in France during the period 27/02/2017 - 26/02/2018. She has done her master’s thesis in a research group of a Spanish university for 6 months. She stays in Spain collaborating with the research group until 26/01/2019. After this period, she moves to Poland to work at a research center.

Is the candidate eligible to apply for an INPhINIT Retaining fellowship at a Spanish university?

Start date - End date

Country of residence

Period

Activity

27/02/2017
26/02/2018

France

12 months

Studies

27/02/2018
26/08/2018

Spain

6 months

Studies

27/08/2018
26/01/2019

Spain

5 months

Work

27/01/2019
26/02/2020

Poland

13 months

Work

She is not eligible to apply for the fellowship, since she will have resided less than 12 months in Spain in the 3 years immediately prior to the closing date for applications.

Requirement 2

Candidates who obtain an INPhINIT Retaining fellowship must enroll in a PhD programme of a university other than the one where they studied the bachelor’s degree.

The CV tab allows you to describe your academic training and your work experience as well. It is especially important that you report everything you have done (type of activity, country and period) at least during the four years prior to the closing date of the call, so that we can check the compliance of both the geographical mobility and research experience requirements.

All the information that you state has to be verifiable through official documents.

Reference letters are requested by filling in the mandatory fields on the application form, particularly on the “Reference letters” tab. Once this section has been completed, ”la Caixa” Foundation will contact the individuals who you listed via e-mail. In the e-mail, we will provide them with a webpage address where they can fill in and send the letter using an online form.

The Diploma Supplement (DS) is a document issued by the university where you pursued your studies, which grants EU-wide recognition to your academic curriculum. It consists of an annex to the academic qualification, detailing the subjects covered, languages used, credits obtained, competencies acquired, academic results, and professional qualifications of the graduate from the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree programme, with their name(s) and surname(s), among other reliable accreditations all over Europe.

Yes, provided that, as stated in the programme rules, all subjects and grades, year by year, as well as the total credits of the qualification and the credits awarded, are specified. In addition, your name, the name of the university, and the name of the qualification should clearly appear.

Should you get the fellowship, you must submit the original transcript of academic record issued by your university, or a certified photocopy of it.

No. You can only include what you can accredit with original documents in your application. Should you get the fellowship and be unable to accredit any of the achievements mentioned in your application, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

Selectionprocess

No. According to standard practice in the selection processes using the peer review system, applicants are not informed of the identity of the individuals who will evaluate their application or of the composition of the selection boards who will interview the applicants. Nevertheless, once the selection processes have ended, a list of all the professors and researchers who took part in them will be made public.

The applicants who pass the preselection process will be called in for a face-to-face screening interview.

The face-to-face interview seeks to:

Delve into the information provided in the application, particularly with regard to the applicant’s academic and personal project.

Ask about matters that were not included in the application and which the committee considers particularly relevant to evaluate the suitability of the applicant in pursuing the studies proposed.

Evaluate the applicant’s academic and professional potential.

Evaluate their all-round training, interests, concerns, and curiosity for the social, scientific, economic, cultural, or artistic context, although this is not directly related to their studies.

Evaluate, if the committee deems it necessary, their foreign language proficiency level.

Evaluate their personal and academic maturity, their motivation to complete the proposed studies and project, and their capacity to clearly express their ideas and firmly defend them.

During the interview, the members of the selection committee may ask for clarifications and pose the academic, personal, or professional questions that they deem appropriate with the aim of selecting—among all the individuals interviewed—those who, in their opinion, are deserving of the fellowship.

No. The online form through which the application was made already provides for the possibility of attaching audiovisual files and links to online content; therefore, documentation of this type should only be submitted using the online form.

Online application platform:technical problems

To activate the account as an applicant, it is necessary to click on the link that you receive in the registration e-mail. If your e-mail account disables the links (e.g. Hotmail accounts tend to do this), you should copy the link to your browser’s address bar. You access codes will not be activated until you have completed this step.

The online application platform only allows a limited number of sections. You should select the aspects of your curriculum which you consider to best support your application. In the online form, you have a text field at the end where you can add additional information that you consider worthy of mention.

The documents have a size limit, beyond which the system rejects them and prevents them from being attached to the application. The online form specifies the limits for each case. Most of the time, file sizes can be significantly reduced by creating a pdf document and optimising compression settings:

The fellowship, and therefore, the contract, should start between September and October of 2019. On an exceptional basis, it is possible to start later, until January of 2020, provided that it is duly justified.

Yes, independently of the ”la Caixa” Foundation’s selection process, host institutions may conduct interviews or use any other means to get to know the applicants who aspire to become research fellows.